Meaning
to pull; to play (string instruments); to drag; to draw
Chinese: 拉动、拖拽或拉近关系。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “la” becomes a different word in each tone. 拉 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 拉开lā kāito pull open; to pull apart; to space out; to increase
- 拉拢lā lǒngto rope in; fig. to involve sb; to entice
- 易拉罐yì lā guànpull-top can; easy-open can (with ring-pull)
- 拉动lā dòngto pull; (fig.) to stimulate (economic activity); to motivate (people to do sth)
- 拉锁lā suǒzipper
Example Sentence
他用力拉开了大门。Tā yòng lì lā kāi le dà mén.He pulled the gate open with force.
他用Tā yòngother use力lìpower拉开lā kāito pull open了le(completed action)大门dà ménthe Doors, US rock band。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The hand radical 扌 (meaning) plus 立 (lì, sound): to draw something with the hand — ‘to pull / drag’.
A way to remember it
A hand (扌) + the sound 立 — to pull.
Easy to confuse with
- 立‘To stand’: the right-hand sound part of 拉, on its own.